Bulgaria's Miners to Go on Strike Over Disputable RE Tax

The leaders of the Bulgarian Miners' Federation at the Podkrepa Confederation of Labor are considering a strike.

The decision was triggered by the request of President Plevneliev on Monday that the Constitutional Court declare the renewable energy tax unconstitutional, according to reports of the Focus news agency.

"The tax must remain. Such radical measures are applied in other EU member states, as well" said Vladimir Topalov, chair of the Miners' Federation at the trade union.

He explained that the renewable energy sector needed restrictions because the rampant connection of new capacity to the grid would result in a collapse of the system as the capacities which did not depend on wind, sun, etc would not be able to handle the situation.

Topalov went on to suggest that renewable energy producers had to declare in advance their output so as to ensure predictability and the manageability of the system.

He emphasized that temporary shutdowns of thermal power plants affected the work of coal mining companies, adding that the disruptions in the summer of 2013 had resulted in a situation where no coal mining company had been able to cover its needs, not to mention registering profit.

The tax on revenues of renewable energy producers was proposed by Volen Siderov, leader of nationalist party Ataka, as an amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act during the second-reading vote on Budget 2014 by the parliamentary committee on budget and finance.